B&Q announces Gardener of the Year competition

If you're a keen and creative gardener, enter this competition with a chance to win a £10,000 first prize. It doesn't matter if you have rolling acres or just a window box or two, if you can demonstrate your skill as a gardener you'll be in with a chance

Comedian Jim Moir is a keen gardener

Comedian Jim Moir (pictured above) is a keen gardener and he's joined forces with B&Q to encourage us to enter the B&Q Gardener of the Year competition, with its very tempting first prize. Oh and four runners up will receive £1,000 too, so that's not to be sniffed at. The nation has gone crazy for gardening during the lockdowns of the past year, and B&Q wants to showcase British gardens and outside spaces in all their glory

The first B&Q Gardener of the Year competition should come as a relief to everyone who's lamenting the postponement of the 2021 Chelsea Flower Show until September. Gardening has proved a godsend to many over the past year and the country is benefiting from this industriousness in the form of many spruced up front and back gardens, plus the addition of millions of very beautiful window boxes that make our streets look so much more tempting.

B&Q wants to celebrate British gardeners of all ages (even Gen Zers have warmed to gardening in the pandemic..) by offering a chance to win £10,000. It's teamed up with comedian Jim Moir to encourage people to enter this competition, which focuses on five criteria: best use of colour, best use of small space, best use of imagination, best grow-your-own space and best eco-friendly garden.

 Joining Jim Moir on the judges panel are award-winning garden designers Matt Childs and Humaira Ikram and B&Q Outdoor Category Director Steve Guy. As well as receiving £10,000 and the prestigious ‘Golden Trowel’ award, the winner will also receive a B&Q Green Card giving access to free plants for 10 years.

B&Q is also shining a light on community gardens and outside spaces which have been transformed for the better, as part of the B&Q Community Garden of the Year competition. This separate award celebrates outdoor spaces created by the community for the community with the aim of improving the life and wellbeing of those in the surrounding area. One garden will be crowned B&Q Community garden of the year, winning a £2,500 B&Q gift card and a consultation with Matt Childs and Humaira Ikram. 

Jim Moir says he hopes people will enter their gardens, no matter how large or small. 'I get so much enjoyment from my garden and it’s a real place of solace for me. During lockdown I did develop green fingers, as much of the nation did, and I’ve been lovingly tending to my tomato and courgette plants. My little grow your own patch isn’t much but I take a huge amount of pride in it. That’s what this competition is all about, finding those gardens which might be a bit rough around the edges, but are perfect to those who love them.”

The B&Q Gardener of the Year competition is open for entries, which must be submitted by 18th June. Visit https://www.diy.com/projects/outdoors